Related papers: Do floating orbits in extreme mass ratio binary bl…
Close stellar binaries are prone to undergo a phase of stable mass transfer in which a star loses mass to its companion. Assuming that the donor star loses mass along the instantaneous interstellar axis, we derive the orbit-averaged…
The theory of superfluid dark matter is characterized by self-interacting sub-eV particles that thermalize and condense to form a superfluid core in galaxies. Massive black holes at the center of galaxies, however, modify the dark matter…
We study the interplay between mass transfer, accretion and gravitational torques onto a black hole binary migrating in a self-gravitating, retrograde circumbinary disc. A direct comparison with an identical prograde disc shows that: (i)…
Binaries containing a compact object orbiting a supermassive black hole are thought to be precursors of gravitational wave events, but their identification has been extremely challenging. Here, we report quasi-periodic variability in X-ray…
We present a simple, general, and accurate construction of the event horizons for the fusion of two neutral, rotating black holes with arbitrary orientation and values of their spins, in the extreme mass ratio limit where one black hole is…
The effect of gravitational radiation reaction on orbits around a spinning black hole is analyzed. Such orbits possess three constants of motion: $\iota$, $e$, and $a$, which correspond, in the Newtonian limit of the orbit being an ellipse,…
We evolve a binary black hole system bearing a mass ratio of $q=m_1/m_2=2/3$ and individual spins of $S^z_1/m_1^2=0.95$ and $S^z_2/m_2^2=-0.95$ in a configuration where the large black hole has its spin antialigned with the orbital angular…
Recent studies have focused on how spinning black holes (BHs) within a binary system containing a strongly magnetized neutron star, then immersed in external magnetic fields, can acquire charge through mechanisms like the Wald process and…
To describe a general bound binary black hole system, we need to consider orbital eccentricity and the misalignment of black holes' spin vectors with respect to the orbital angular momentum. While binary black holes produced through many…
We consider the evolution of a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) surrounded by a retrograde accretion disk. Assuming the disk is exactly in the binary plane and transfers energy and angular momentum to the binary via direct gas…
A black hole binary approaching merger undergoes changes in its inspiral rate as energy and angular momentum are lost from the orbits into the horizons. This effect strengthens as the black holes come closer. We use numerical relativity…
A circumbinary disc around a pair of merging stellar-mass black holes may be shocked and heated during the recoil of the merged hole, causing a near-simultaneous electromagnetic counterpart to the gravitational wave event. The shocks occur…
Building up on previous work, we present a new calculation of the gravitational wave (GW) emission generated during the transition from quasi-circular inspiral to plunge, merger and ringdown by a binary system of nonspinning black holes, of…
We present a two-dimensional grid-based hydrodynamic simulation of a thin, viscous, locally-isothermal corotating disk orbiting an equal-mass Newtonian binary point mass on a fixed circular orbit. We study the structure of the disk after…
Since many or most galaxies have central massive black holes (BHs), mergers of galaxies can form massive binary black holes (BBHs). In this paper, we study the evolution of massive BBHs in realistic galaxy models, using a generalization of…
Very large mass ratio binary black hole systems are of interest both as a clean limit of the two-body problem in general relativity, as well as for their importance as sources of low-frequency gravitational waves. At lowest order, the…
Given the absence of observations of black hole binaries, it is critical that the full range of accessible parameter space be explored in anticipation of future observation with gravitational wave detectors. To this end, we compile the…
The spins of merging binary black holes offer insights into their formation history. Recently it has been argued that in isolated binary evolution of two massive stars the firstborn black hole is slowly rotating, whilst the progenitor of…
Circumbinary disks are found in a variety of astrophysical scenarios, spanning binary star formation to accreting supermassive black hole binaries. The interaction with a circumbinary disk can yield opposite effects on the binary orbit…
Supermassive black hole binaries are likely to accrete interstellar gas through a circumbinary disk. Shortly before merger, the inner portions of this circumbinary disk are subject to general relativistic effects. To study this regime, we…